NGO slams U.N. work in Central African Republic

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

Updated 2023 GMT (0423 HKT) December 12, 2013

Photos: Crisis in the Central African Republic98 photos

Crisis in the Central African Republic – A Central African Republic police officer chases looters attacking a broken-down truck Friday, February 7, in the capital of Bangui. The country, a former French colony, was plunged into chaos last year after a coalition of mostly Muslim rebels ousted President Francois Bozize.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Members of the Central African Armed Forces lynch a man suspected of being a former Seleka rebel Wednesday, February 5, in Bangui.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A Central African Armed Forces member kicks the man suspected of being a former Seleka rebel.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A woman runs for cover as heavy gunfire erupts in the Miskin district of Bangui on Monday, February 3.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Men take cover in a restroom as heavy gunfire erupts in Miskin on February 3.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A man screams after being arrested in downtown Bangui on Saturday, February 1.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A Christian fighter walks by houses burned by ex-Seleka forces in Bogoura, a small town in the Central African Republic, on Sunday, January 19. The Seleka have been forced out of power since the coup, but Christian militias, known as the anti-balaka, have been allowed to fill the power vacuum, Amnesty International said, with dire consequences for Muslim civilians.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Muslim civilians prepare to board trucks in Bangui to flee the capital on Saturday, January 18.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A truck packed with Muslim civilians and their belongings leaves Bangui on January 18.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Security volunteers use sticks to fend off people trying to enter a food and supplies distribution point at a makeshift camp at Bangui M'Poko International Airport on Thursday, January 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French soldier waves to children as his jeep patrols the area between an airstrip and a makeshift displacement camp at M'Poko International Airport on January 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French soldier and an African Union peacekeeper from Burundi patrol the Galabadja district of Bangui on Saturday, January 4. While insecurity continued to reign in many areas of the city, certain neighborhoods were tentatively reopening and some residents returning, at least during daylight hours.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – An African Union peacekeeper from Burundi participates in a joint patrol with French forces in the Fouh neighborhood of Bangui on Janurary 4.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Displaced people walk amid makeshift shelters at a camp abutting M'Poko International Airport on January 4.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Children crowd around a volunteer who's distributing rice porridge at a makeshift camp at M'Poko International Airport on Friday, January 3. Escalating violence in the Central African Republic is posing a threat to children, with at least two beheaded and thousands recruited as soldiers, the United Nations said.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, center right, speaks to a wounded soldier in a medical tent during a visit to the M'Poko Camp in Bangui on Thursday, January 2. France has sent 1,600 troops into the Central African Republic to assist African troops.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People displaced by violence attempt to create a semblance of normal life in a sprawling camp at M'poko International Airport on January 2.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A medical worker checks the injuries of a man who has been struck by gunfire. The man was treated at a Doctors Without Borders clinic inside a makeshift camp in Bangui on January 2.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A member of an armed neighborhood defense squad, which residents say is local Christian residents protecting themselves, carries a machete as he walks near a roadblock in Bangui on Tuesday, December 31.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People wait for evacuation flights in a hangar at the airport in Bangui on Sunday, December 29.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Displaced young people use a tree branch to climb a wall in Bangui on Saturday, December 28.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A man carries beams stripped from a Bangui house, back left, which is said to have belonged to a Seleka officer who had been attacking the surrounding Christian population.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers patrol the Fouh district in Bangui on December 28.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A man walks on a roof beam in Bangui on December 28 as local residents tear apart a house said to have belonged to a Seleka officer.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Angry Christians shout at a truck of fleeing Muslims in the Gobongo neighborhood of Bangui on Friday, December 27.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A young boy watches as people hurl rocks at passing vehicles carrying Muslims in the Gobongo neighborhood December 27.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Muslims are taunted by Christians when their truck breaks down in the Gobongo neighborhood of Bangui.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Cameroonians wait in line to board an evacuation flight at M'Poko International Airport, which is guarded by French soldiers on December 27. Military escorts shuttled citizens of Chad and Cameroon to the airport Friday to board evacuation flights as French troops stepped in to help Muslims fleeing north by road.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – An African Union peacekeeper carries an elderly Cameroonian woman to a military vehicle in Bangui on December 27.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A young man who was hit in the back by a stray bullet cries out in pain at a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Bangui on Wednesday, December 25.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A militiaman holds a knife as he describes a recent attack in Bangui on Tuesday, December 24.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A motorcycle passes the remains of a mosque that was destroyed in Bangui in December.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers frisk a man at a checkpoint in Bangui on December 23.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French troops and civilians try to comfort a crying boy near the airport in Bangui on December 23.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers load a wounded man onto the front of a military vehicle to get medical help in Bangui on December 23.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Displaced people sit with their belongings at a makeshift camp housing thousands in Bangui on Saturday, December 21.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A boy looks out the broken window of a plane being used as shelter at M'Poko International Airport on December 21.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – The body of a suspected militiaman lies in the road near a charred car in Bangui on Friday, December 20.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Christian men tear off pieces of the Gobango Mosque in Bangui on December 20.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People watch as French soldiers hold their position on a street in Bangui after hearing gunshots on December 20.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French troops patrol the Boy Rabe district of Bangui on December 20.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Tents are set up at a refugee camp near the airport in Bangui on Thursday, December 19.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A man carries a bag of food at a Christian refugee camp in Bossangoa, Central African Republic, on December 19.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A boy scarred from a machete attack waits at a pediatric hospital in Bangui on Wednesday, December 18.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – An African Union peacekeeper stands on a chair December 18 as a small child sits on the floor of an Islamic center where refugees have sought protection in Bangui.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A severely malnourished child lays by his mother at a pediatric center in Bangui on Tuesday, December 17.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French soldier patrols the Castor neighborhood of Bangui on Monday, December 16.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French troops patrol a street of the Muslim PK-5 district in Bangui on December 16.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Former soldiers linked to Christian militiamen rest Sunday, December 15, in a camp set up in a Bangui school. Christian vigilante groups formed to battle Seleka, the predominantly Muslim coalition behind the March removal of President Francois Bozize.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers patrol the streets of Paoua, Central African Republic, on December 15.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – The Archbishop of Bangui, Dieu Donne Nzapa Lainga, preaches on Saturday, December 14, to people gathering at a refugee camp close to the Bangui airport.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Members of a militia opposed to the Seleka pose with weapons and amulets in the Boy-Rabe neighborhood in Bangui on December 14.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A Seleka presidential guardsman smokes at the downtown market in Bangui on December 14.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Christians at the Bangui airport gather in a makeshift camp for internally displaced people on Friday, December 13.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Muslim men rough up a Christian man while checking him for weapons December 13 in Bangui.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Peacekeeping troops from the Multinational Force of Central Africa shoot as they attempt to evacuate Muslim clerics from the St. Jacques Church in Bangui on Thursday, December 12. An angry crowd had gathered outside the church following rumors that a Seleka general was inside.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – The bodies of 16 Muslim men are loaded onto a truck at the Nour Islam Mosque before being transported for burial in Bangui on Wednesday, December 11.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A young woman holds her baby at an elementary school in the Muslim district of Bangui on December 11.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People pray as they bury 16 coffins in a Muslim cemetery in Bangui on December 11.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French troops detain a suspected Seleka officer -- preventing a Christian mob from lynching him -- in Bangui on Monday, December 9. The mission of the peacekeeping force is to protect civilians in the Central African Republic, restore humanitarian access and stabilize the country.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers arrest an alleged ex-Seleka rebel in a neighborhood near the Bangui airport on December 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A man runs from gunfire December 9 during a disarmament operation by French soldiers in Bangui.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People gather around an alleged ex-Seleka rebel as he is arrested by French soldiers in Bangui on December 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People walk by a French soldier standing guard during a disarmament operation in Bangui on December 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French soldier stands guard after the arrest of ex-Seleka rebels in a neighborhood near Bangui's airport on December 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers stand guard near a man they have arrested in Bangui on December 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French troops walk past two Seleka vehicles suspected of being set on fire by Christian mobs in Bangui.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French soldier speaks to a suspected Christian militia member who was wounded by a machete in the Kokoro neighborhood of Bangui on December 9. Vigilante crowds said they spotted him with grenades and turned him in to French forces.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Mobs of Christians grab a child holding a knife in Bangui on December 9.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Children attend a mass given by the Archbishop of Bangui at Saint-Paul's parish on Sunday, December 8.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Children ask for biscuits at a base camp held by the French military in Bossembele, Central African Republic, on December 8.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Red Cross employees stand amid dozens of bodies at the morgue in Bangui on December 8.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Michel Djotodia, the country's president who had been one of the Seleka leaders, gives a press conference in his Bangui office on December 8.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A displaced child walks in Bangui on December 8.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Relatives of Thierry Tresor Zumbeti, who died from bullet wounds to the neck and stomach, grieve outside his home in Bangui on Saturday, December 7.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A former member of the militia that led the coup against the Central African Republic's president sits next to a machine gun as he and others stand guard at a shut-down market in Bangui on December 7.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Children play inside Bangui's Saint-Bernard Church, where their families took refuge following the wave of deadly violence on December 7.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French soldiers patrol a road in Baoro, Central African Republic, on December 7 as part of the military operation aiming at restoring security in the country.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French soldier watches the road in Baoro on December 7.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People grieve for a man killed in Bangui on December 7.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Women push a coffin in the streets of Bangui on December 7.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A French helicopter lands at a base camp in Cameroon on Friday, December 6.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – The U.N. Security Council votes Thursday, December 5 to authorize increased military action in the Central African Republic. The resolution, put forward by France, authorized an African Union-led peacekeeping force to intervene with the support of French troops.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – People stand near bodies found lying in a mosque and in its surrounding streets in Bangui on December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – French military forces drive in Cameroon on December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Civilians wait for treatment at Bangui's hospital after a daylong gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias on December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A nurse tends to the wounded at Bangui's hospital on December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Seleka soldiers race through Bangui as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the capital December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Wounded civilians lie on the floor of Bangui's hospital on December 5.

Crisis in the Central African Republic – A severely wounded man lies unattended in a Bangui mosque December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Shrouded bodies are seen in a Bangui mosque December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Civilians seek shelter in a Catholic church in Bangui on December 5.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – A Seleka soldier is briefed while manning a checkpoint in Boali, Central African Republic, on Wednesday, December 4.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Christians from the village of Bouebou load up on a taxi as they flee violence on December 4.

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Crisis in the Central African Republic – Christian children from Bouebou are packed in the trunk of a taxi as they flee violence December 4.

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Story highlights

Medecins Sans Frontieres says the United Nations has done too little to help the CAR

In an open letter, MSF accuses U.N. agencies of an "appalling performance" on the ground

Tens of thousands of people have been left in dire need by U.N. failures, letter says

Violence has flared in the Central African Republic over the past year

Medecins Sans Frontieres slammed the United Nations Thursday for what it said was an "unacceptable" humanitarian response to the crisis in the Central African Republic.

In an open letter, the group, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said it had "deep concern" over the United Nations' humanitarian agencies' "appalling performance" in the country over the past year.

This failure, it said, has left tens of thousands of vulnerable people without the help they need.

Violence has plagued the Central African Republic since a coalition of rebels deposed President Francois Bozize in March, the latest in a series of coups since the nation gained independence.

The past week has seen a surge in fighting in the capital, Bangui, and in the town of Bossangoa, 185 miles north, where many of those displaced by months of conflict between Muslim and Christian militias have sought refuge in camps.

French troops have now been deployed alongside African forces in a peacekeeping mission aimed at restoring security, protecting civilians and ensuring access to humanitarian aid.

The MSF letter, addressed to Valerie Amos, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, is scathing in its assessment of the U.N. response on the ground.

As the situation deteriorated in the past three months, "there has been no evidence of an adequate humanitarian reaction to the needs generated by repeated outbreaks of violence," the letter said.

"The only actions undertaken by UN aid officials have been the collection of data related to the fighting and a few assessments confirming the need for an immediate response. Repeated evaluations in the face of glaring needs, and numerous coordination meetings, have not led to any concrete action around the main hotspots."

The letter gives two examples in support of its criticism.

"MSF has repeatedly asked UN agencies to deliver food, tents and soap to the more than 15,000 people displaced in the vicinity of Bangui's airport, without any reaction," it said.

In the second example, U.N. officials in Bossangoa were on security lockdown inside a compound run by African-led peacekeeping forces, the letter said. They "did not even provide assistance to the displaced sheltering inside the same compound, forcing MSF to intervene once more."

The same officials remained on lockdown for days after the fighting, it added, "abandoning the more than 30,000 displaced persons in the main Bossangoa camps."

MSF staff instead moved through the camps to give help, the letter said. That assistance included taking care of the wounded, digging latrines and providing access to drinking water.

The U.N. said Thursday that U.N. agency personel have deployed to the field as security conditions permitted, adding that they are "working closely" with MSF and other key NGOs who have maintained a strong presence in CAR during the crisis.

"As this crisis worsens, it is important that all efforts and resources are focused on delivering aid to people in desperate need. As in all crises, there will be a time for evaluation of the humanitarian response, but now is the time for action," the U.N. said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has been present in the Central African Republic since 1997, says it is currently running seven regular projects and four emergency projects there. It has more than 100 foreign personnel and about 1,100 local staff in its teams, providing free medical care to nearly 400,000 people.

The group believes the United Nations has overestimated the security risks in the Central African Republic, thereby restricting its agencies' ability to help "people in an extreme state of need."

An MSF news release Thursday, published alongside the letter, said U.N. humanitarian organizations had now decided to ramp up their response in the Central African Republic.

But while this is welcome, the group said, it is long overdue.

"This late decision must have a real impact and initiate radical and immediate change to the way UN humanitarian agencies respond to the crisis," said Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations.

More than 415,000 people -- nearly 10% of the population -- have been internally displaced by the fighting, according to the United Nations, and 68,000 more have fled to neighboring countries.